My little kitchen timer alarm clock beeped at 5 am, and Melissa's knock on my door followed soon after. I was mostly prepared the night before, just had to get myself ready, grab my PB&J out of the freezer and pack my lunch. No coffee though, so, it was all in slow motion. Thankfully, Stuart had offered to drive me down to the Henley train station because I needed to be there at dark-thirty to catch the first of several trains before reaching my final destination, Penshurst.
Having purchased my return ticket {train travel terminology... a one way ticket someplace is a 'single' a two way ticket is a 'return'} the day before, I only needed to be there in time for the train's departure at 06.36 am.
Having not figured out how to print yet from the home network I wrote out the itinerary for myself. It's sort of like my little, tiny security blanket... getting dog-eared already after just a couple of trips...Henley to Twyford is a quick trip. Then it's up the stairs, over the tracks and down the other side to 'platform #3' to catch the next train to Reading. {More train travel terminology... 'platforms' are just designated areas adjacent to the tracks where the trains sit... they may be adjacent to each other or you potentially might have to find your way up and over the tracks to get to the correct platform. Reading is a very large station and has escalators, but at the smaller stations, it's the stairs or an elevator, which is called a 'lift' here.}
Somehow, I managed to catch an earlier train than I was supposed to, which gave me a few extra minutes in Reading to locate a cup of coffee, and go through the gates in the wrong direction a few times before I located where I needed to be. I had incorrectly read the itinerary online and thought I was looking for platform 48 and wondered how far that was from where I arrived at platform 10!! Fortunately, there are usually rail employees available at each platform who seem to know the entire train schedule by heart, which is hugely impressive to me! Thanks to them, I discovered I was actually supposed to be at platform 4B which was right around the corner! Whew! The next leg of my trip was to be the long one. An hour a 12 minutes. Time to relax, take in the scenery and/or read a little.
Turned out that the train's departure time was delayed for 20 minutes... something about fog and 'signals'... which meant I would miss my connecting train at Redhill and would consequently arrive at Penshurst later than planned. Oh No!! John Waller would be waiting for me and I had no way of reaching him to let him know. I did fret about it some... because it didn't seem like a very good way to get off on the right foot... ultimately though I realized it really was out of my control. I reminded myself of something my Dad would say, "it is what it is" and decided to relax and enjoy the journey.
All the traveling up to that point was done in the dark, but it was light by the time we left Reading. I didn't have the presence of mind to take any pictures along the way--will do that another time. It was foggy and rained off and on the whole trip. We traveled through small towns and plenty of beautiful countryside which very much reminded me of Vermont...
I saw several different flocks of sheep along the way... presumably different breeds, a herd of Belted Galloway cows which made me miss the Noel family at http://maplewoodorganics.biz/... some pheasants (I think) and a small flock of what looked like geese flying overhead, could it possibly be? The country side in general seemed to be comprised of hilly pastureland in between heavily forested areas. Most trees holding on to their leaves here still. Lots of oaks and beeches? Also, lots of something with orange berries which I think might be Mountain Ash, but not sure. Many fields of a low growing crop, bluish green in color. I asked a fellow traveler who said he thought it was Rapeseed and went on to say that farmers receive an incentive from the government to grow it. At least, that was my interpretation of what he said.
At one stop, lots of students got on the train and the noise level went up significantly until they got off a couple stops later. Most of the trip was quite quiet though. Mostly individual travelers, going to work... in their own little world either reading the paper, drinking coffee and gazing out the window or, more often the case using some form of technology. The guy sitting across from me spent a goodly amount of time on his iPhone and looking at his watch. Clearly, he was going to be late for something and wasn't too happy about it. When he looked up, taking a break, I struck up a conversation with him. He looked up the train times for me and I was relieved to hear that there would be a train leaving for Penshurst within a few minutes of our arrival in Redhill... which meant I would only be 20-25 minutes late.
Redhill was a good sized station, but there were just a handful of people there who were continuing on in the same direction as me. My next train arrived when it was supposed to and it was mostly empty. It was me and one other guy in my coach-very different than the train from Reading which had started out pretty full to begin with and got fuller along the way. We left on time and arrived at Penshurst 20 minutes later.
It was hard to contain my excitement about finally meeting John and seeing Bore Place in real life... for months I'd been looking at the google satellite photo of Bore Place and anything and everything I'd found online about it, including their website http://www.commonwork.org/ along with Johns website http://www.underwoodsman.co.uk/ AND the Woodlands TV/YouTube video of him weaving a willow chair back http://www.woodlands.co.uk/tv/2008/10/willow-weaving/... I encourage you to check those links out-lots of good stuff going on!!
So. I was terribly excited. This is a condensed version of the timeline that occurred from inspiration to reality...
Early February-- my friend Mark was traveling in Europe visiting people and places who use coppicing as a form of woodland management and utilize the wood for any number of traditional crafts. Mark and Dave are co-authoring a book about the subject check out: http://www.coppiceagroforestry.com/ for more on that...
Mark visited P.H. Coate and Son (http://www.englishwillowbaskets.co.uk/) and posted some pictures on the blog-- and what, for me, had been a casual interest in willow grew three sizes that day--just like the Grinch's heart!
I started dreaming about coming to England... and doing some online research as a first step.
a couple weeks later in February -- my friend Melissa emailed to say, "guess what... Stuart is being transferred - we are moving to the UK!".
March-April -- try to figure out the details of my life... aargh! more research... emails sent to various UK places mostly no responses from willow people... a potential job opportunity comes up that has housing... I pursue it...
May-June -- sell... pack... give away... in prep for the July 8th move out date... the job with the housing doesn't work out! two more seemingly excellent job opportunities come up and I submit applications...
July 4th -- find out I don't have to move out by the 8th.
July -- stare into space and wish I... hadn't sent all the furniture off to the auction house so I'd at least have a comfortable place to sit and ponder what to do next... those last two job applications were for naught... more staring... and pondering...
July 25 -- decide to do one more google search and Johns website comes up... why did it not ever come up before? I watch the WoodlandsTV video... I send an email hoping for a response... and low and behold, I get one!
early August -- realize the home will have to go... and I guess in my heart it is settled for once and for all... I am leaving. I am leaving Vermont, and going to England, plan or no plan.
August 21 -- purchase plane tickets
And, you pretty much know the rest. Stay tuned for part 2 where I actually meet John and see Bore Place!
Wow what a ride!I felt your excitment!
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